Wednesday 14 January 2009

And you bus, do you believe in God?




It all started in the UK with an Atheist Campaign.

Hundreds of London buses now carry ads reading: 'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.'




Now in Barcelona The campaign launched by the Union of Atheists and Freethinkers has received more than 6,000 euros (8,000 dollars) in donations which are expected to allow it to also plant ads on two buses in the capital Madrid.


Arguments
'We live in a free country,'
'The (Catholic) Church launches messages, why should we not do the same?'
'Such a campaign does not hurt anyone, will bring fresh air and a slap to fanaticism,'





An evangelical pastor in the Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada was even swifter off the mark, raising funds from his faithful to pay for two buses to drive round the Spanish capital for two months bearing the counter-slogan: "God does exist. Enjoy life in Christ."

Arguments

'We are not worried about the atheists, but want to divulge our message,'


"We want to communicate to the world that Christ exists and offers the way to a better life,"
"Everyone has the right to express their opinions freely, and that includes us."



"Faith in God is not a source of worry, nor is it an obstacle for enjoying life,"



Religious or Atheist or Agnostic, you'd better have a look on the ad of the bus before you get on it.

In Barcelona “At bus stops, most travelers were not aware of the ads that were created by the atheist association, and the few people that did have some knowledge showed total indifference and only wanted the bus to travel as quickly as possible in order to get around,”

Imagine people in Madrid (by the end of the month the atheist buses will appear too) watching the passing by buses, which bring up such a controversial issue, reading one the one that 'Possibly, there's no God' and yet reading on the other that 'Yes, there's God'. Some may find it kind of cool and smile, however, most of them will get frustrated with the whole idea.

At the end, the happy ones will only be the people who own the bus companies and get the money.

Along with the Uk and Spain comes Canada and Some interesting quotes about atheism I found on their site:

“The way to see by Faith is to shut the eye of Reason.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Since it is obviously inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong.” - Christopher Hitchens

“Question: How do you know you’re God?
Answer: Simple. WHen I pray to him, I find I’m talking to myself.” - Peter O’Toole

“Science has done more for the development of Western civilization in one hundred years than Christinaity did in eighteen hundred.” - John Burroughs

“The difference between religions and cults is determined by how much real estate is owned.” - Frank Zappa

“Faith is the great co-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.” - Richard Dawkins


Some given by the readers of the site:
“Even if there is no God, the Universe is still awesome”

“Atheists are nice because they like to be, not because they are commanded to be”

“The faithful strive for the benefit of one invisible God, atheists strive for the benefit of 6,000,000,000 fellow humans”

“There’s probably no Heaven so let’s make this world better”

“You will burn in Hell for all eternity!!! (Unless, of course, you don’t believe in Hell)”

“Worried if you’re going to Heaven or Hell? Well stop believing in them then.”

“YOU CAN’T PROVE THAT THERE IS A GOD ANYMORE THAN I CAN PROVE THAT THERE ISN’T ONE. LET’S JUST CALL IT EVEN.”

5 comments:

βικι εξαρτημένος said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
βικι εξαρτημένος said...

Since you quoted Richard Dawkins I would like to strongly recommend his book "The God Delusion". Read it whether you're a devout believer or an atheist. Either way it will give you another perspective on the matter.
I would also like to add my own favourite quote:

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
Douglas Adams

Z. said...

Thanks, I'll read it then.

My favourite? I'm not sure. Though, I liked a lot this one “Atheists are nice because they like to be, not because they are commanded to be” by a reader of the Canadian site I referred to above, called Greg Smith.

pareisaktos said...

Εκανες αυτή την ανάρτηση γιατί θέλεις να στείλεις κάποιο μήνυμα, γιατί θέλεις να μας πεις ότι είναι προχωρημένα άτομα οι μαδριλένοι σε αντίθεση με το θεοκρατικό καθεστώς μας ή απλά θέλεις να ανοίξεις συζήτηση περί Θεού; Για να ξέρουμε τι να απαντήσουμε :-)

Z. said...

As you see it!

Ok. I didn´t write my opinion, I just gave the idea of what´ve happened.

My opinion is that I got excited when I learned about that bus in Barcelona, the atheist bus. And I thought to myself that this is a free country and everyone can say whatever they want. Also, I agree with the message of the campaign.

Then, I heard about the Christian bus in Madrid which was the answer to the atheist bus. That bus was funded by an evangelical pastor who pays all this money (which comes from the church) in order to hit back at atheists. So, there's a kind of a debate now. Barcelona vs Madrid or the humanist campaign vs a pastor who cannot respect their message (or just wants to communicate his own message).

That's the whole story in a few lines. Though, Madrid will have atheist buses by the end of the month too.

About the Catholic church in Spain you can read on one of the articles above: ''The atheist campaign comes as Spain's Catholic church becomes increasingly involved in political campaigning.

It has fought against laws passed by prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's socialist government allowing gay marriage, simplifying divorce and reducing the importance of religious instruction in the school timetable. It is campaigning against changes to Spain's abortion laws.

Although church and state are nominally separate in Spain, the Catholic church receives funding from the government.´´

What's your point of view?